Another day, another coaching error prevents a lesser team from upsetting a member of the NFL’s elite.
On Thursday, it was Bears coach Matt Eberflus who squandered a chance to force overtime against the one-down Lions. On Friday, Raiders coach Antonio Pierce mishandled a chance to upset the Chiefs’ double-double (and also one-loss) defense.
Trouble started for the Raiders when Pierce burned a timeout on a tie with 2:21 to play. After sending the punt team facing fourth-and-11 from the Chiefs’ 40 and down two points, Pierce changed his mind. So he called timeout and opted for a 58-yard field goal attempt by Daniel Carlson. That kick was not good.
To their credit, the Raiders forced the Chiefs to punt. Las Vegas got the ball back at their eight-yard line with 1:56 left. And they moved the ball into position for another game-winning drive.
Things went sideways when quarterback Aidan O’Connell completed a seven-yard pass to running back Ameer Abdullah. That put the ball at the KC 32.
After timeouts (thanks to the one they wasted), quarterback Aidan O’Connell rushed to the line and scooped the ball up with 15 seconds left.
That was the mistake that cost the Raiders a chance to win. They could push the clock to three or four seconds before snapping and jumping. This approach would ensure that the Chiefs would not have a chance to get into position for their own game-winning field goal attempt.
Then came the mistake that multiplied the first one. Instead of attempting a 50-yard field goal, the Raiders ran the next play. The blitz came early, O’Connell couldn’t catch it and the Chiefs recovered. Game over.
After the game, Pierce explained the reasoning behind the last, botched play.
“We wanted to catch the ball and really just throw the ball out of bounds and just — the ball is on the 32-yard line. We wanted to kill four or five more seconds and kick a 49-yard field goal,” Pierce told reporters.
Later, at a press conference, he was pressed again about this decision.
“Yeah, I answered that a minute ago,” Pierce said. “I was just trying to throw the ball away… So we wanted to throw the ball away, waste another four or five seconds and kick the goal.
The explanation makes no sense. They could waste as many seconds as they wanted before O’Connell intercepted the ball on the previous play.
It’s another failure of situational football. Moments after Abdullah was tackled at the 32 with the clock ticking, O’Connell needed to know that the strategy at that point was to use as much time as possible to keep Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes from having a chance. doing Mahomes stuff.
After punting the ball, the Raiders decided to shrink Mahomes’ window by burning another four or five seconds. And look what happened.
While different from the fiasco at the end of the Bears-Lions game, there is one common thread. Coaches and players must be prepared for every situation. They must think clearly and decisively when managing the clock.
The final play that turned out to be the turning point wasn’t necessary if O’Connell had the presence of mind to stand on the ball, milk the clock and kick it with enough time for a field goal attempt. That’s on Pierce, honestly, for O’Connell not being ready to do what needed to be done in the most important moment of the game.